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MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

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Conclusions<br />

Management of the consequences of the move was left to individual<br />

managers. Managers themselves seem to have been aware of the<br />

contribution which a strategic approach might have made and, with<br />

hindsight, were able to reflect on the process.<br />

‘Meaningful’ Managerial Actions<br />

Merger Management<br />

Although the Executives of the merging unions had listened to Lord<br />

McCarthy’s advice to display generosity of spirit, this did not always<br />

manifest itself. Similarly, senior managers were aware of the cultural<br />

issues involved in the merger, but, in addition to issues concerning the<br />

head office space discussed above, engaged in little explicit merger<br />

management activity. Insofar as it occurred, it was the responsibility of<br />

individual managers. Even in 2002, seven years after the merger,<br />

managerial communication was seeking to discourage staff from<br />

engaging in discourse relating to old union cultures. The new<br />

management team has strategies for tackling these issues – including<br />

the implementation of the recommendations of the Equality and<br />

Diversity report which touched on these issues.<br />

Managing by Information<br />

External examination of management processes reported little<br />

evidence of a consistent approach to managerial communication and<br />

managers did not identify this as a key task despite some engaging in<br />

communication processes. A commitment to improve this, as part of an<br />

Investors in People process has been made in the Strategic Plan,<br />

which implicitly recognises its importance as a managerial process.<br />

Managing through people<br />

This is the subject of another commitment in the Strategic Plan. The<br />

evidence suggests that managerial practice in this area is at best<br />

inconsistent, despite some managers giving a great deal of thought to<br />

how they relate to their people. Connections between the idea of<br />

‘fairness’, which provides some moral support for the way trade union<br />

managers engage with the world, are not usually being made. The idea<br />

that managing people to get the best out of them may involve some<br />

sort of sanction or monitoring, given the cognitive rules relating to the<br />

problematic nature of management, probably accounts for the historical<br />

lack of any systems to enable this to be done. This may also account<br />

for the lack of management training made available, although there is<br />

some evidence that staff development generally is possible, if not<br />

systematic.<br />

Similar trade union experiences may have a bearing on the lack of<br />

comfort displayed in the concept of team working. This has been a<br />

bugbear for many CWU members for many years and that must act as<br />

a constraint on managers wholeheartedly embracing the language and<br />

practice of teamworking. Team meetings do take place, but they do not<br />

seem to be particularly common although the word is used in<br />

connections with groups of staff.<br />

128

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